B. Donna - Blood Pool

Lightning lit the night sky, and thunder rumbled. She heard waves roil in the distance. Her legs were still cuffed to the bed, so she couldn’t move, couldn’t go to the window for a look or to climb out.

She deduced from the bouquet surrounding her that she was somewhere in the south. Jamaica, perhaps, or Haiti. Except Laroque was smarter than that. Everyone would think to look for her in New Orleans or Haiti first.

Lying in bed, she stared at the ceiling. Light poured in from the hall as her door opened. It was Laroque. He went to the window and closed the shutters.

He was quiet for a long while, staring off into space. “I suppose you figured we’re in the middle of a tropical storm,” he finally said. “It may turn into a hurricane during the night, if you are to believe the weather forecasters.”

“Yes, it being October and all. Hurricane season’s a bitch.” Raven motioned with her head toward the packages of undergarments and jeans. “I’m a 36 D bra by the way. And tell Mick thanks for the bedpan.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He glanced at the nightstand. There sat an empty bedpan. “Are you hungry? I was sleeping, and I assumed you weren’t fed.” He pulled a chair from the darkened corner and sat.

“I’m not hungry, no. My feet hurt,” Raven said as she reached for her ankles and tried to rub beneath the straps that were digging into her flesh. She stole quick glances at the man across the room as she fidgeted.

What a time to become mortal. She thought about Bo and wondered where he was.

Laroque’s complexion was drab, and half circles bulged underneath his tired eyes. He seemed to sway in the seat.

“You’ll try to escape if I let you go,” he said between ragged breaths.

Raven leaned against the headboard. “You really don’t look well. Do you have any medical supplies here?”

He looked at her and opened his mouth to answer, but no words came out. He reached into his pocket and tossed her the keys to the cuffs on her ankles.

“The Lamai have strict orders if you try to escape. Just try, and they will turn you…and you will die.”

Raven had no doubt he would keep his word. She unlocked the cuffs and massaged her feet. Normally the marks would heal within seconds of appearing. This was the new normal, and she wasn’t used to it. She wasn’t used to hunger pangs and she certainly wasn’t used to the thought of dying.

She supposed, in hindsight, that was how she was able to do her job. Death was something that happened to others.

“I have a vaccine that seems to be working on the Lamai. Mick is the longest-running success story. The other two Lamai and the shifters have also been inoculated. I’m afraid I haven’t got one that will work on humans.” He rocked back and forth, almost falling off the chair.

Raven stood and steadied herself. “Supplies. Where are they?”

Laroque wheezed. “Downstairs. Masks, gowns, oxygen, quarantine tent…”

He was visibly weak, barely able to hold himself up on the seat, let alone speak. “Raven, I loved your mother more than life itself. I know she never loved me the way she loved your father, but she did love me, and that was enough. I would take whatever she wanted to give. Jade…is my whole world. You are sisters…”

Her hands fisted at her side, she suddenly lost her self-control. “You almost killed the only man I will ever love! Am I supposed to forgive you?”

He shook his head. “No…of course not. I promised Jade I wouldn’t hurt you. We all do things we wouldn’t normally do for love-or hate. Your father couldn’t live with the fact that Nicki gave herself to me. He did the unthinkable…” He could hardly catch his breath now.

“Aren’t you leaving out a little tidbit of info? I know about the fae.”

Laroque’s eyes widened. “How did you find out?”

“Not important. What is important is that my father did not kill my mother. Be still. I’ll be right back.” Did I step into the twilight zone? Everyone had a different version of the past, and Raven was no longer sure which one was reality and which was illusion. For now, her reality wasn’t very promising.

Raven headed out the door and walked right into the wall that was Mick.

“Laroque asked me earlier to show you where the supplies are,” he said, leading her down the stairs. Raven couldn’t believe the low, rumbling quality of this man’s voice. Barry White had nothing on this guy.

They made their way down the semi-circular staircase of the huge mansion. A home that seemed to belong on a plantation. Raven could see the boarded up windows. Battery-operated candles illuminated every room.

The main level was like a walk-in clinic, albeit a stone walled and wood floored one. A fireplace blazed in the center of the south wall, and a hospital bed jutted into the middle of the floor from the opposite wall.

Raven rapidly issued orders to the Lamai. “Put the fire out now and get me an oxygen tank. Can one of your goons lift Mr. Laroque and put him in the bed here? I need surgical masks, a gown-and I don’t mean an evening gown and gloves. Am I talking too fast for ya, Mick?”

“No, ma’am.” He smiled, reluctantly. It seemed to Raven that he liked her.

“Good, because I’m not going near Mr. Laroque until I get those things. Is there an autoclave?”

He nodded. “Yes, ma’am, it’s in the kitchen.”

Mick pointed a long, beefy finger toward the closet. “Mr. Laroque gave strict instructions that I not touch anything you might need. The items you asked for are in that closet, all sterile. You’ll also find IV bags and needles.” His voice registered an octave below the thunder that clapped outside. “There’s also a freezer with the virus in the kitchen, and in the refrigerator are the vaccines. Mr. Laroque has them all labeled. He has his notes in his laptop, which is on the dining room table.”

Raven turned to look around the room, making sure the candles didn’t have combustible flames. “Is there a generator, in case we lose power?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Raven opened the closet and took out everything she required. Slipping on the scrubs, she turned to look at the hulking Lamai. “You feel all right?”

“Never better.”

“Good. Go get him,” she said, putting on the booties, double gloves and mask.

Raven peered into the refrigerator at the small vials of vaccinations stored in a Rubbermaid container. On each lid was a label: Lamai, Fae, Siren, Empusas and Shifter . On another container, Human .

She turned and noticed the short chest-like freezer with the biohazard symbol on it. That was where the virus lay dormant, like a demon frozen in time. She’d never worked with hot agents before. She really had no desire to do so now, either. But the choice was no longer hers. The universe had other plans for her, and what they were she wouldn’t even hazard a guess.

What would possess a man to go to such measures? It couldn’t be for love. Love was nurturing and caring. Hate, on the other hand, destroyed people and lives, just like the virus in the freezer.

The Lamai called. “Dr. Strigoi.”

She headed into the makeshift hospital room. Mick had placed Laroque on the bed and closed the plastic curtain around him.

“I need other supplies… a thermometer, and I need to check his blood pressure, too.”

Mick, donned in scrubs and gloves, nodded and went into the kitchen. He soon returned with the required items.

Raven approached Laroque. His skin was pale and he looked feverish. She placed the disposable sheath over the thermometer, slid the plastic tent open and began taking his temperature. While she waited, she instructed Mick to get the IVs ready.